Welcome back to pennant race baseball. The Bucs and Cards are hardly done with each other after that five game series in the Burgh – they’ll still meet nine more times, starting tonight. Now the Bucs are the hunted instead of the hunter, and they’re on the road after a rough sweep in Colorado. Worrisome, yes, but when the worst case scenario is being tied for first, things aren’t going too badly. Even if the Bucs can get out of town with just one win, they’ll have a two game lead. And don’t forget how well they’ve played against St. Louis – the Cards haven’t beaten the Bucs in a series since early last season.

Andrew Lambo has joined the team, but isn’t in the lineup tonight. Jose Tabata gets the start in right, so look for Lambo to come up as a PH later tonight. (Jose probably got the nod tonight due to his great career numbers against Wainwright.) UPDATE: Tabata is out with the flu, so Lambo IS in the lineup now.

The very good news is that Starling Marte is back in the lineup after hurting his hand Sunday. No DL stint for him, which would have been a very big blow to the Bucco offense and defense. Alex Presley was optioned to Indy to clear room for Lambo…a move I’m sure everybody is happy with.

This isn’t exactly an ideal matchup for the Bucs and Morton, who was shelled in his last outing against the Cards (that 13-0 loss to end the five game series). Still, Morton’s been pretty decent overall this season, the Cardinal bats aren’t going very well at the moment, and Charlie’s last start was quite good.

Wainwright is still one of the NL’s best but the Pirates have given him lots of trouble lately. They managed to beat him in a tight game in Pittsburgh last time out and most current Bucs have promising numbers against him. Still, the Cardinals had enough faith in him to push him back two days to start against the Pirates instead of the Cubs.